Lasers are widely used for many medical applications, both internal and external of a patient. The laser offers many advantages over conventional modalities, among which are its precision, its ability to achieve hemostasis, and its ability to sterilize the surgical site. One of its greatest potential advantages is its ability to access non-line of sight areas or areas of the body that are otherwise difficult to reach. However, current laser systems suffer from awkwardness, the inability to access many areas of the body, particularly in comparison to currently used older surgical instruments, and the inability to adequately ensure sterility of the parts of the laser that come in contact with the patient.
Neodymium doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers, such as offered by American Dental Laser, are sometimes offered with bent handpieces which curve the distal end of the fiber at an angle of about 30 degrees over the last centimeter, but these systems are still cumbersome since the angled portion cannot readily rotate with respect to the axis of the fiber and the geometrical configuration is not optimum for oral cavity access. Handheld carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) lasers, such as those manufactured by Directed Energy Systems or ILT, have a "delivery system" in which the distal end is too large and cumbersome to adequately reach into many parts of the body such as the oral cavity. The delivery system, such as it exists, consists of a focusing lens and a barrel of relatively large outer diameter. Articulating arm systems for CO.sub.2 lasers are not outfitted with small tips, which makes access to the back molars of the mouth, for example, very difficult.
An additional accessibility problem with both types of lasers as well as non-laser surgical instruments is the inability to vary the angle of the distal portion of the instrument with respect to the proximal portion. When using these prior art laser and non-laser instruments, it is necessary to completely switch instruments in order to achieve a proper angle. In addition to wasting valuable surgical time by switching instruments, the expense of surgery is greatly increased because of the requirement for duplicative instruments.